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competed for premiums at one trial. We hope tlie Society 

 will in futui'e offer more and larger premiums in this depart- 

 ment, that it may not only stinudate our young men, but the 

 practical farmer to renewed endeavors in this direction. The 

 hir-tory of the horse can hardly fail to interest the most careless 

 student. From the earliest ages he has been man's faithful 

 ally and willing shive. Every branch of industry owes much 

 to his patient toil ; he ploughs the soil, sows the seed, reaps the 

 harvest and transports it to the di:jtant market. From yeai' to 

 year he has toiled unceasingly for his master, in the cart, the 

 mill, tiic freight-wagon or the mail-coach. In gracefulness of 

 motion, elegance of form and dignity of carriage he is supe- 

 rior to every other quadruped ; and by those nations to whom 

 he is kuov.'n, he is almost imiversally considerect the most use- 

 ful and manageable of all our domestic animals. Although 

 the horse was domesticated in the time of Moses, yet we know 

 little of his condition or the manner in Avhich he "was trained, 

 until within a little more than two thousand years. But our 

 agricultural methods are still rude, and must be considered so 

 Avhilc the plough is the symbol of agriculture. We can look 

 back and see the first cultivator of the soil, a naked savage, 

 who tries the first agricultur;ii experiment by making a hole 

 with his finger in the mud left bv the o^cvflowing waters of 

 some river, and depositing a grain of wild corn. How he 

 grins, on his return, to see the success of his experiment in the 

 silken tassel, and eventually in the golden ears I He tries 

 again ; but finding his forefinger sore from use, he improves on 

 this by using a stick to dibble in the grain, and thus invents 

 the first agricultural tool. A stone hatchet hews out the first 

 rude spade, and with this wooden spade the work goes bravely 

 on. We look down the stream of time and see the wooden 

 spade disappear, and a stick pulled by an ox take its place ; 

 then follows the Saxon peasant, with his wooden plough zig- 

 zagging over the ground, scattering his grain and reaping his 

 scanty harvest, but thinking, poor soul ! that never was there 

 snch an invention as his plough. What can possibly supercede 



